AQA successful applicants??

pamaris

TIAL wrote: »

No worries, the application people are a bit rubbish if truth be told. It took me 2 weeks to get a reply!

-Edited because while I didn't really say anything negative, I wouldn't want to be misunderstood. I love AQA and have only had good experiences with them so far!

lisalou1906

They should stop advertising for posts and concetrate on clearing the backlog first otherwise they keep on piling emails. Now they can't even respond to enquiries on time.

TIAL

pamaris wrote: »

I think that they are just understaffed, and as such it creates a vicious cycle- there is a backlog so people aren't being responded to... so the applicants then send more emails creating more of a backlog! They could probably use an extra person on their team.

Yeah I totally agree, it seems there are only 2/3 people max marking the possibly hundreds of application tests. I know us potential employees could be more patient but we have to treat it as a 2 way evaluation and they should either up the staffing or at the very least give us a realistic time in which we will get a reply to leave us out of the dark (as well as reply to people in chronological order)

calista

Sorry to have a moan myself, but all the complaints on here are winding me up. From what I understand, yes, AQA are on a big recruitment drive so it's a very busy time, however in their defence:
1. They can't just take on extra people to mark tests etc; they have very specific standards & answer policy as you all know, so presumably it's not an option to hire a HR temp. for a few weeks.
2. Anyone sending follow up emails is just increasing the administrator's workload. You may think it's one email, but if every applicant sends an email, it would swell their inbox. As Pamaris said, it's a vicious circle.
3. You can't expect a quick response like you might for AQA texts; recruiting employees is slightly different to finding out a train time or whatever. They need to be confident they hire the right people.

Finally, haven't any of you applied for a job before!? Of the 30 or so I have applied for since leaving education I did not even receive an acknowledgement/rejection from the majority. At least with AQA you will hear either way. Where I received an interview or rejection, it was often many weeks after first applying (one interview was 8 weeks after) and the start date was obviously even later. Even if some of you are waiting 2 weeks, this is brilliant I reckon....To be signing a contract a week after applying I'd say is exceptional HR service!! I work in HR (no - not for AQA!) & the recruitment process is obviously longer, busier & more complicated than some of you think!

Sorry again to moan. I was just reading some of the comments thinking, if I was the hiring manager, I wouldn't hire anyone who was already slating my staff/methods. Be patient & good luck.

TIAL

Fair enough - I do see your point, I think when doing stuff over the internet it's very tempting to expect 'instant' results as most things on the internet are. Thanks for raising that point

I still think they could reply in chronological length though as it would probably make things more simple!

Wings_of_Ambition

I believe that the Senior Researchers are the ones that mark the tests, as mine seemed to know about my answers when I had my induction. SR's are also responsible for the reviews of all their staff, and also have been responsible for recruiting two new SR's (well.... promoting two experienced FR's) very recently, so their workload appears to be quite high. I know at least one new SR has now been taken on and has officially started, so things should start to improve soon.

Best of luck to those waiting to hear back

saubryn

I sent my application off yesterday - I think I know what I did wrong last year when I applied and got recjected, so hopefully I'll get accepted this time.

Good luck to everyone else who has applied recently too!

TIAL

Best of luck Saubryn!

littleange

calista wrote: »

Sorry to have a moan myself, but all the complaints on here are winding me up. From what I understand, yes, AQA are on a big recruitment drive so it's a very busy time, however in their defence:
1. They can't just take on extra people to mark tests etc; they have very specific standards & answer policy as you all know, so presumably it's not an option to hire a HR temp. for a few weeks.
2. Anyone sending follow up emails is just increasing the administrator's workload. You may think it's one email, but if every applicant sends an email, it would swell their inbox. As Pamaris said, it's a vicious circle.
3. You can't expect a quick response like you might for AQA texts; recruiting employees is slightly different to finding out a train time or whatever. They need to be confident they hire the right people.

Finally, haven't any of you applied for a job before!? Of the 30 or so I have applied for since leaving education I did not even receive an acknowledgement/rejection from the majority. At least with AQA you will hear either way. Where I received an interview or rejection, it was often many weeks after first applying (one interview was 8 weeks after) and the start date was obviously even later. Even if some of you are waiting 2 weeks, this is brilliant I reckon....To be signing a contract a week after applying I'd say is exceptional HR service!! I work in HR (no - not for AQA!) & the recruitment process is obviously longer, busier & more complicated than some of you think!

Sorry again to moan. I was just reading some of the comments thinking, if I was the hiring manager, I wouldn't hire anyone who was already slating my staff/methods. Be patient & good luck.

I was thinking the same thing. Applying for a job takes time, and If people keep emailing them, then it is gonna take them even longer to get back to everyone. Be patient guys, I bet they are going as fast as they can

addictedtolush

I emailed my second test back on Sunday. It was the same test as the first one I took and got rejected. I know where I went wrong (I hope) so fingers crossed. Good luck to those who are waiting.